'This bitch.' Onoki inwardly seethed at the carefree and casual way Pakura ordered him.
Alas, he could do nothing about it and it wasn't as if his opponent decided to not fight him if he declared his disinterest in fighting. Even if he didn't want to obey Pakura, he would be forced to act in accordance with her order simply because he couldn't do anything else in his situation.
Somehow... that made him even more incensed.
His eyes trailed over to Temari, and when he saw the determination in the girl's eyes, he snorted in contempt.
"Girl, the last time I underestimated a youngster was with the Namikaze brat and I regret it to this day. Don't think I will go easy on you just because you are at the age where you barely don't need to use diapers anymore." Onoki gruffly spoke and prepared for a fight.
But unlike what he just said, he didn't intend to fight Temari with the aim to kill her. Not even with the aim to defeat her.
No... Onoki simply wanted to wait for an opportunity to flee.
And for that, he had to go hard enough on the girl to push her back while not defeating or killing her. All in order to prolong their fight so the chances for such an opportunity to come would be increased.
"I... might have underestimated you, old midget." Temari's face scrunched as if she ate something disgusting. "But that won't happen again." She said in a barely audible voice.
Both Onoki and Temari were about to leap at each other when Pakura's voice suddenly interrupted them.
"Oh. You both can fly so either fight in the arena or go into the air." She turned towards Temari, her eyes holding a stern but warm look, "Konoha is now our ally, Temari, I don't want to see you destroying more of it than necessary." After saying that, Pakura's eyes shifted towards Onoki, her gaze turning cold. "As for you... better do what I say or it won't be my apprentice you will be facing but me."
Naturally, Pakura could completely see through Onoki's plan. She wasn't born strong. She was in his position quite a few times herself so she could imagine what he was feeling and what he hoped to accomplish.
Hearing her, Onoki grimaced but he could only give a curt nod in a defeated acceptance. At least Pakura didn't seem to try preventing his attempt at running away. If anything, she seemed amused and curious. He tried to console himself with that.
Both Onoki and Temari jumped down into the arena, neither really opting to fight in the air.
For Temari, it was because in the air, her Sand Manipulation would have been severely limited and she now knew she would have to use everything in her arsenal to fight Onoki.
For Onoki, it was because most of his defensive techniques relied on Earth Nature Manipulation, and it was infinitely easier to cast them near the ground. While he could make earth for his techniques mid-air, it was very draining, and right now, he needed to preserve his chakra as much as he could.
The two fighters soundlessly dropped onto the ground of the arena and looked at each other. The stare-off didn't last more than two seconds before the fight started.
No insults, grandstanding or boasting. They were past that stage of the fight and both now knew the other wouldn't be shaken by a simple insult.
Neither Onoki nor Temari wished to engage in close-range combat as it was not their main strength.
They abruptly stopped rushing at each other when they were just fifty feet apart, Temari sliding on the ground due to her momentum, using it to brandish her battle fan, while Onoki stopped seamlessly in his spot, allowed to do this due to his body floating slightly above the ground.
Running was for plebs anyway...
As Onoki stopped, his hands came together, charging another Dust Release ray... after all, why do something new when the old thing worked so far? He totally expected to overpower Temari with his next attack.
And if not, then he could simply deploy one of the many backup strategies that were brewing in his mind.
Unlike the previous times, when Temari was about to finish brandishing her battle fan and her Wind Jutsu was about to be shot towards Onoki, a spark suddenly came out of her mouth as she ground her teeth together. That was the only cue Onoki got before...
Temari suddenly spat a stream of fire in front of her, directly into the trajectory of her Wing Jutsu, causing a fiery inferno to roll in waves at the startled Onoki.
Knowing he had to react fast, Onoki stopped charging his attack and shot it in front of him, easily penetrating the fiery inferno and creating a massive hole in the middle of it.
Onoki's aim was impeccable and he shot it straight at his opponent. But when he saw his Dust Release ray pierce straight through Temari's fan and body... he instantly knew he was fooled even before Temari's form dissolved into sand.
He had other problems than pondering where his opponent was, though. Unlike his expectations, the inferno wasn't disrupted completely and still advanced toward him, sealing up with more raging flames as it got closer to his position.
Onoki was however too experienced and as the flaming inferno engulfed him, roasting him alive, his charred form suddenly crumbled, revealing it was just an Earth Clone.
It took ten whole seconds for the inferno to cease existing, devouring all the chakra funneling it and leaving behind only a massive black mark spanning through at least half of the arena.
Neither Onoki nor Temari could be seen inside the arena.
While the arena seemed completely peaceful, down below it, a vicious fight continued. Temari tried to ground as many rocks together as she could in order to make more sand for herself while Onoki was focusing on furiously solidifying the sand into rocks with his chakra. Both did this all the while trying to locate the position of the other.
Having their attention divided like this wasn't pleasant but they both knew stopping would mean giving the other the advantage and both were too stubborn to allow that.
Two minutes passed, rocks being ground to sand and then sand being solidified into rocks in an endless circle... by now the entirety of the ground under the arena went through this process and it became visible even on the surface in several places.
It looked like a disturbance on the water surface. Several places on the surface were turned to sand that was moving in waves like water, but it didn't last long and the sand was hardened, turning back to rock only for this exact phenomenon to repeat in different places in the arena. Again and again, and so it went.
No ninja had the guts to step into the arena during that time as they all knew the sign of danger.
If that wasn't enough, the sight of occasional kunai falling into the arena and impacting the ground... before it was either covered by sand that rose from the unsuspecting ground and crushed the kunai or two chakra-hardened rock plates appeared from the ground and squashed the kunai in between themselves before pulling in deep underground depending on who controlled the place where kunai landed at that moment.
Both Onoki and Temari were using their senses, rather than their sight, to fight so whoever got into the arena would be shit out of luck as they would assume them to be their opponent and go for attack no questions asked.
As this kind of fight continued, it was surprisingly Onoki who got lucky and got the first hint of Temari's location.